


What a Man Gotta Do?

by angellwings



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Awkwardness, Confessions, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Short One Shot, Snowed In, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28993719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: Severide had asked them to take a quick trip to the cabin to get it ready for him.It was awkward being alone with Sylvie given their current situation. She’d just stopped seeing the Lieutenant from 40 and the assumption around both houses was that it ended because of Matt. She hadn’t said a word to him about it, not that he expected her too, so he had no idea what actually happened.Regardless, his best friend was planning to propose to Sylvie’s best friend in this cabin in just a few hours.Matt had a feeling that plan was wrecked — judging by the snow piling up outside.
Relationships: Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Comments: 21
Kudos: 110





	What a Man Gotta Do?

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** Yet another prompt reply turned short one shot. This prompt is: “You took all the pillows so I’m using you as one.” Hope you like it!
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> xoxo

_******_

_“So, what a man gotta do?_

_What a man gotta do,_

_To be totally locked up by you?_

_What a man gotta say?_

_What a man gotta pray,_

_To be your last 'Goodnight' and your first 'Good day'?”_

_“What A Man Gotta Do” by Jonas Brothers_

******

Severide had asked them to take a quick trip to the cabin to get it ready for him.

It was awkward being alone with Sylvie given their current situation. She’d just stopped seeing the Lieutenant from 40 and the assumption around both houses was that it ended because of Matt. She hadn’t said a word to him about it, not that he expected her too, so he had no idea what actually happened.

Regardless, his best friend was planning to propose to Sylvie’s best friend in this cabin in just a few hours.

Matt had a feeling that plan was wrecked — judging by the snow piling up outside.

“The roads in and out of here are closed,” Sylvie announces, dropping her phone on the coffee table and plopping down on the couch. “Poor Severide. This was supposed to be such a big night for him and Stella! Have you talked to him yet?”

Matt nods, sitting down on the couch next to her with a sigh. It was a good thing he’d already started a fire. They were going to need it. “He said not to worry about it. He’ll improvise. So, it’s gonna be a big night no matter what. Just not here.”

“Oh! But what about the strawberries! I mean the champagne will keep but the chocolate covered strawberries won’t,” Sylvie says, frowning at the pretty spread she’d set up on the coffee table.

Matt shrugs and then grins at her. “More for us?”

“God, that’s tempting. We can’t though!”

“Why not?”

“They’re for Stella!”

“You said yourself they won’t last. Kidd won’t get to eat them no matter what. Someone should enjoy them,” Matt reasons, glancing pointedly between her and the platter.

Sylvie bites her bottom lip before reluctantly reaching for the smallest strawberry. “Well, maybe just one.”

She really is too cute. How did he not see her sooner? What had been different about them the last few years? Had she changed or had he? Maybe it was both of them. Maybe, unlike his past relationships, he and Sylvie were growing _together_ not apart.

“Guess we’re bunking here for the night,” Matt says while glancing at the unexpected blizzard through the window. “You can take the bed. I’ll take the couch.”

She nods. “Okay.” Awkward silence descends and Matt hates it. Their silences had never been _awkward_ before. Sylvie looks guiltily at the tray and then grabs it as she stands from the couch. “I should put these in the fridge. If we can keep them cold Stella might still be able to enjoy them.”

As soon as she takes a step toward the kitchen, the lights flicker and then cut out. Only the glow of the fire illuminates the room, surrounding them in hues of orange and yellow.

“Wind probably knocked a tree into some power lines somewhere,” Matt observes. “Looks like we’re gonna have to eat those strawberries after all. No power, no fridge.”

“And also no heat,” Sylvie reminds him as she comes back with the tray.

“Good point. Guess we’re both sleeping on the couch. We’ll need the fire for warmth,” Matt tells her with an apologetic glance.

At that realization, the tension is palpable. He can feel her apprehension as if it were his own. Guilt overwhelms him. It’s his fault that their relationship, whatever it is, has become so uncomfortable. His dumbass answer fanned the flames of fear and doubt in her and unless he straightens it out nothing will ever be the same again.

“Or I’m sure there’s a sleeping bag around here somewhere,” he says lamely. “I can sleep on the floor.”

Sylvie shoves almost an entire strawberry in her mouth and nods silently as she chews. The sight of her chewing ferociously and avidly avoiding his eyes would be comical if it didn’t sting so much.

“We have plenty of time to kill until then,” Matt observes. “What should we do?”

She continues to chew but shrugs and points at him, indicating he should decide. He nearly grins. Her determination to avoid conversation just gave him the perfect opening.

“Up to me, huh?”

She nods.

“Then I think we should talk. About you and me.”

She gulps down the rest of the strawberry in one swallow, nearly choking in the process. “What?” She asks through a startled cough. 

“I miss you and I hate how distant we are.”

“Matt—“

“No, hear me out. I know I agreed to give you space but that was a mistake. I should have said what I really wanted to say but as always I can’t think straight around you. You—you fog things up and the words get lost in all my feelings and I end up sounding like a jackass.” He pauses and takes a deep breath, meeting her eyes. “I don’t want Gabby. She could walk through the door right now and beg me to leave with her and I wouldn’t do it. She and I had our chance. We don’t work. Honestly, despite our good moments, we never really did. And I don’t want a relationship that has a few good moments. I want a relationship that has a few bad moments. Maybe one that even allows me to be happy in the _middle_ of the challenges. That’s not what Gabby and I had.”

“It isn’t?”

He shakes his head and takes her hands in his, sliding closer to her on the couch. “No, but it is what you and I have. Even as friends, that’s how our relationship works. I want to be so much more than your friend, Sylvie, but I know we’ll never lose that. It’s our foundation. I want _this_ ,” he tells her as he releases one of her hands to point between them. “I want what I have with you for as long as you’ll let me have it.”

His words echo through the tiny cabin as they grow quiet again. Sylvie stares at him with wide nervous eyes, unblinking. She seems frozen with indecision.

Until she isn’t.

Until she stands straight up, nearly knocking him over since they were almost sitting on top each other, and walks toward the hallway.

“Pillows!” She shouts, frantically. “We need pillows. And blankets! I’ll go find them!”

He watches her go with a bewildered expression. He did speak, right? Outloud? He rises from the couch and follows her down the hall. “The extra blankets are in the closet in the bedroom,” he calls out to her back as she speed-walks down the short hallway.

“Right! Got it,” she says, never once looking back at him. “Oh look! And there’s a sleeping bag too! Perfect!”

He enters the bedroom and stops next to her, eyes narrowed on her panicked expression. What is going on here? She shoves the sleeping bag and a couple of pillows into his arms.

“You did hear me, right?” He asks while watching her grab as many blankets and pillows as she can manage.

“This should be plenty, don’t you think?” She’s trying to appear absent-minded but that same panic is in her eyes so he knows she heard him.

He sighs and nods. “Yes, this should be plenty.”

He follows her back out to the living room where she sets all the pillows and blankets in an armchair and begins to make up the couch. She throws the two spare throw pillows on the floor and then starts tucking a sheet around the cushions.

He watches, frustration building in his chest, as she follows that with a thick quilt and then begins meticulously fluffing and arranging the pillows. Finally, he gives up waiting for a response and unrolls the sleeping bag across the floor in front of the fire. He turns to grab a pillow from the armchair only to find all of them gone.

“Do you plan on sharing any pillows?” He asks Sylvie with a quirked brow.

She looks dazed as she blinks over at him. “I’m sorry. What?”

“The pillows,” he repeats as he motions to the couch that’s almost too full of pillows to sit on.

“Oh!” She says, hands flying to her blushing cheeks. “I wasn’t even paying attention.”

“What is going on?” Matt asks loudly, frustration bubbling to the surface. “Did I say something wrong?”

“What? No! You—god, you said all the right things.”

“Then why are you still avoiding me?”

“I’m trying not to say or do anything stupid,” she admits in a barely audible voice.

“Nothing you say or do could be stupid,” Matt assures her.

“Oh no? Jumping you last time we kissed felt pretty stupid after it was all said and done and we both know, based on that first time, that I’m in way deeper than you. So, I don’t want to say anything that might scare yo—“

He cuts her off by suddenly dipping his head and capturing her lips with his. She tenses for a moment and then melts against him. They stand in front of the fire sharing searing kisses for what feels like an eternity and a fleeting moment all at once. It’s excruciatingly slow and yet it ends much too soon. It doesn’t make sense.

“There,” Matt says as they pull apart. “Now we’re even.”

She blinks at him, looking adorably confused. “What?”

“You’ve jumped me and I’ve jumped you,” he replies, catching his breath. “We’re even.”

“Oh god, I love you.” She gasps and slaps a hand over her mouth. A goofy grin appears on his face as he pulls her hands away. She winces and then continues rambling. “I didn’t mean to tell you that. Not...not yet anyway. Oh shit. Can we pretend that didn’t happen?”

“No,” he replies in a firm tone. Though the smile on his face contradicts his tone. “I don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Why not?” She asks, her bottom lip poking out in a very slight pout.

“Because I love you too and I want you to know it,” Matt confesses, rubbing his hands up and down her arms soothingly and trying not to look amused by her pouting lip. “I don’t want to pretend I feel less for you than I actually do ever again.”

She gasps at his words before framing his face with her hands and yanking his lips down to hers. She tastes like strawberries and dark chocolate. He guides her down to the couch, crushing the pillows she’d placed on one end. It actually works out well for them. It props her up at a more comfortable angle for him to settle himself on top of her.

With everything finally out in the open, the layers of clothing between them don’t last long and by the time the sun is setting in the sky they’re panting, sweaty, naked, and wrapped in three layers of blankets.

The power still hasn’t come back on and the air has chilled considerably. He kisses a trail down her jaw to her neck and then rests his head on her chest with his arms wound around her waist.

Every single pillow is still propped underneath her.

“You’re better than an electric blanket,” Sylvie tells him with a sleepy satisfied smile. “You’re so warm.”

He laughs and presses a light kiss to the middle of her sternum. “I guess it’s only fair that I’m your blanket. Considering, you took all the pillows so I’m using you as one.”

“I’m happy to be your pillow, Matt Casey.”

“And I will gladly be your blanket, Sylvie Brett. All you have to do is ask.”


End file.
